Celebrities get behind demand for justice for victims of contaminated blood scandal

Celebrities get behind demand for justice for victims of contaminated blood scandal

BIANCA JAGGER, the human rights activist and former actress, has thrown her support behind the contaminated blood victims who are demanding a public inquiry into the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history.

Bianca Jagger has thrown her support behind the contaminated blood victims who are demanding an inqu

The former wife of rock star Mick Jagger has urged her 54,000 Twitter followers to lend their support to the victims of contaminated blood to “achieve justice”.

Her request came just hours after a Panorama programme on the issue aired on Wednesday, which featured many of the stories run by the Sunday Express as part of our crusade calling for justice for the victims of the scandal.

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Ever since the paper launched its campaign almost two years ago momentum has been building behind calls for an independent inquiry that would help get to the truth behind how thousands of people were infected with deadly diseases after receiving blood products administered by the NHS.

This week all three main opposition parties, including Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party, are expected to pledge to hold an inquiry into the scandal as part of their manifestos in a move that will heap pressure on the Conservatives to follow suit.

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She urged her Twitter followers to lend their support to the victims to ‘achieve justice’

He said unless such a probe is held he will seek a criminal investigation into the evidence he has amassed, which he claims points to “deliberate, provable acts of cover-up”.

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Sunday Express launched its crusade calling for justice for the victims almost two years ago

In what was his final speech in the Commons last month before being elected as the new Mayor of Manchester, Mr Burnham gave examples of inappropriate treatment given to patients, tests being done on people without their knowledge or consent, and results from such tests being withheld for years.

Speaking during the adjournment debate, Mr Burnham cited the cases of three victims. One of those was haemophiliac Ken Bullock, infected with non-A, non-B hepatitis, who died in 1998.

His widow said that in December 1983 his medical notes changed to suggest he was “a clinical alcoholic”. Mr Burnham told MPs this accusation escalated over the next 15 years, with Mr Bullock unaware of the “appalling” claims.

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Mr Bullock was possibly refused a liver transplant based on his falsifi ed medical records, Mr Burnham said. Last week the Haemophilia Society wrote to the Prime Minister demanding the Government open a “full UK wide public inquiry”, which has never occurred and will compel witnesses under oath, release all documents for public scrutiny and have a remit to consider failures in government policy and negligence by public bodies.

It also calls for compensation to be made available for people affected by the scandal. The letter received more than 500 signatures from the families and friends of those affected as well as eight different campaign groups.

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"A generation of people with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders were infected with blood-borne viruses and many lost their lives.

“The extent of the scandal was avoidable if action had been taken over known risks and the government had pursued their policy of self-sufficiency. Those infected and their families deserve truth, justice and compensation”.

The UK imported supplies of the clotting agent Factor VIII, some of it turned out to be infected. Much of the plasma used to make Factor VIII came from donors like prisoners in the US, who sold their blood.

More than 2,000 deaths have been linked to the scandal in which haemophiliacs and others were infected with hepatitis C and HIV from the imported blood products.